Method and apparatus for efficient content delivery in radio access networks

ABSTRACT

Various methods and communications devices to improve bandwidth utilization in a wireless communication network are provided. By way of example, efficient content delivery in a radio access network is achieved by using an accelerator module configured to implement a stack having, among others, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) layer, a transmission control protocol (TCP) layer, and a de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression/decompression, and caching layer.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a system and method fordigital communications, and more particularly to a system and method forcontent and application acceleration in a cellular wirelesscommunications network.

BACKGROUND

As mobile communications devices, also commonly referred to as UserEquipment (UE), mobile stations, terminals, smart phones, and so forth,become more technologically advanced they are becoming capable ofproviding more than just voice connectivity. In addition to providingvoice connections, the technologically advanced mobile communicationsdevices may enable users to web surf, stream multimedia, share images,serve as access points for computers, and so forth, at continuallyincreasing data rates.

The world-wide market penetration of advanced mobile communicationsdevices continues to increase. Furthermore, data (e.g., web-data,multimedia, images, computer data, and so on) may also continue toincrease every year. As an example, mobile Internet has become a commonplatform to allow users to share information and content using advancedmobile communications devices. Streaming video applications, based onhyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP)/transmission control protocol (TCP),are becoming a dominant traffic pattern in mobile Internet. However,these applications may consume a considerable amount of bandwidth.

Therefore, deployment of such large numbers of the advanced mobilecommunications devices may place a huge burden on bandwidth capabilitiesof wireless communications networks, which must continue to increasebandwidth capabilities to ensure adequate performance to satisfy userdemands. On one hand, this has become costly for the mobile Internetproviders and has greatly eroded their bottom line. On the other hand,mobile users have experienced significantly greater latency to accessInternet content via cellular wireless connections.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Technical advantages are generally achieved by embodiments of thepresent disclosure which provide a system and method for content andapplication acceleration in a cellular wireless communications networkthat also serves data content in addition to voice to end users.

In an embodiment, a method for transmitting data is provided. In themethod, packets are received from a content provider. A stack inaccelerator module on one side of a radio access network is implemented.The stack is configured to reduce the amount of traffic going throughradio access network (RAN) and to reduce the latency for the UEs toreceive requested content. The packets are transmitted to a cooperatingaccelerator module disposed on another side of the radio access network.The cooperating accelerator module includes a corresponding stack that,when implemented, is configured to recover original content frompointers or compressed data in the packets, or to serve the contentlocally to the UEs, or instruct the client to resend request withupdated information in order for get content from content providerdirectly.

In an embodiment, a method for receiving data is provided. In themethod, packets transmitted from one side of a radio access network arereceived. The packets carry content reduced using a stack in acceleratormodule. A corresponding stack in a cooperating acceleration module onanother side of the radio access network is implemented. The stackreconstructs the original before passing it to another communicationsdevice connected via LAN.

In an embodiment, a communications device is provided. Thecommunications device includes a receiver configured to receive packetsfrom a content provider disposed on one side of a radio access network,an accelerator module configured to implement a stack to compress thepackets, and a transmitter configured to transmit the packets to acommunications device on another side of a radio access network therebypermitting the packets to be decompressed using a cooperatingaccelerator module with a corresponding stack when received. Thecommunication device deployed on one side of RAN is connected to UE viaLAN. A communications device on the other side of the RAN is connectedto Internet via the wireless core network.

In an embodiment, a communications device is provided. Thecommunications device includes a receiver configured to receive packetsfrom a network device on one side of a radio access network. The contentcarried in the packets has been greatly reduced by contentde-duplication and Lempel-Ziv (LZ)/deflate compression. Thecommunications device also includes a cooperating accelerator moduleconfigured to implement a corresponding stack to recover the originalcontent upon receipt thereof and a transmitter configured to transmitthe packets to a communications device on another side of the radioaccess network.

In an embodiment, the accelerator stack includes an HTTP layerconfigured to reduce the number of protocol handshaking messages goingthrough the radio access network (RAN) and to reduce the latency for theUE to receive requested content. The HTTP layer may perform meta datacaching, 301 redirect caching, authentication caching, object caching,connection pooling, and also provide hints to a de-duplication layerregarding content length and header length in order to improvede-duplication results.

In an embodiment, the accelerator stack includes a transmission controlprotocol (TCP) layer configured to control the amount of data to betransferred and to manage data retransmit in event of packet loss. TheTCP layer also adjusts a data transfer window based on acknowledgementstreams (or other parameters). The acknowledgement streams, or ACKstreams, may provide an indication of network condition. For example,network congestion may be determined through the time it takes ACKpackets to arrive and/or the absence of some ACK packets. The TCP layermay also aggregate TCP sessions between different pairs of UEs andcontent providers in order to reduce the amount of TCP handshakingneeded before actual content is transmitted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic of an embodiment of a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS) employing communication devices (e.g.,a radio network controller (RNC), an access device, etc.) with anaccelerator module in order to improve bandwidth utilization;

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic of an embodiment of a long termevolution (LTE) network employing communication devices (e.g., a packetdata network (PDN) gateway, an access device, etc.) with an acceleratormodule in order to improve bandwidth utilization;

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic of one of the communications deviceshaving the accelerator module and employed in the UMTS of FIG. 1 or theLTE network of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic of an embodiment of a software stackemployed by the accelerator module of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a method of transmitting data using the accelerator module ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a method of receiving data using the accelerator module ofFIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is an illustration of information flow through a cellularwireless network when communications devices having the acceleratormodules of FIG. 3 are used.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The making and using of the present embodiments are discussed in detailbelow. It should be appreciated, however, that the present disclosureprovides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in awide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussedare merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the disclosure.

The present disclosure will be described with respect to a specificcontext, namely a wireless communications system that supportscommunications devices with data capability, i.e., third-generation (3G)and fourth-generation (4G) communications devices. The concepts of thepresent disclosure may also be applied, however, to wirelesscommunications systems that support data capable communications devicesin general.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level view of a cellular wirelesscommunications network 100 such as, for example, a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS) for 3G applications. Wirelesscommunications system 100 includes a communications device which isrepresented in FIG. 1 by user equipment (UE) 102 (e.g., a smart phone,or networked tablet computer). While the communications device isrepresented by UE 102 in FIG. 1, the communications device may also beanother communications device such as, for example, a tablet computerconnected to the local area network (LAN).

UE 102 is connected to an access device 106 over LAN (link 104). In anembodiment link 104 is a wireless fidelity (WiFi) connection. Accessdevice 106 may control communications to and from UE 102. As such,access device 106 controls the network access of UE 102. Access device106 (e.g., a mobile hot spot, etc.), is connected to a Node B (NB) 110via 3G/4G cellular wireless (link 108). In an embodiment, link 108represents a radio access network (RAN) existing between access device106 and NB 110. NB 110 may also be referred to as a base station, acontroller, a communications controller, and so forth. NB 110 may servea number of UEs, depending on a configuration of wireless communicationssystem 100, time of day, and so forth.

NB 110 may be connected through an Internet Protocol/AsynchronousTransfer Mode (IP/ATM) access network 112 to a radio network controller(RNC) 114 or other a content aware device (CAD) for 3G applications. RNC114 may be connected through an Internet Protocol/Asynchronous TransferMode (IP/ATM) core network 116 to GPRS support node (SGSN) or gatewayGPRS support node (GGSN) 118. Node 118 is configured to receive content(e.g., packets) from a content service provider, data center, etc.(e.g., content service provider/data source 224 as illustrated in FIG.2).

FIG. 2 illustrates a high-level view of a wireless communications system200 such as, for example, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) service for 4Gapplications. Wireless communications system 200 includes acommunications device which is represented in FIG. 2 by UE 202. Whilethe communications device is represented by UE 202 in FIG. 2, thecommunications device may also be another communications device such as,for example, a network server, networked tablet computer, etc.

UE 202 may be served wirelessly (over link 204) by an access device 206.In an embodiment link 204 is a local area network (LAN). Access device206 may control communications to and from UE 202. As such, accessdevice 206 controls the network access of UE 202. Access device 206(e.g., a mobile hot spot, etc.), may be served wirelessly (over link208) by eNB) 210. In an embodiment, link 208 represents a RAN existingbetween access device 206 and eNB 210. eNB 210 may also be referred toas a base station, a controller, a communications controller, and soforth. eNB 210 may serve a number of UEs, depending on a configurationof wireless communications system 200, time of day, and so forth.

eNB 210 may be connected through link 212 to a service architectureevolution (SAE) gateway 214. SAE gateway 214 may be connected throughlink 216 to a packet data network (PDN) gateway 218. PDN gateway 218 isconnected through link 220 to router 222, which provides access to adata source or content provider 224 via network 226 (e.g., the Internet,a private network, or combination thereof).

Referring collectively to FIGS. 1 and 2, several of the communicationsdevices, in particular RNC 114, access device 106, PDN Gateway 218, andaccess device 206, are each equipped with an accelerator module 250. Aswill be more fully explained below, the accelerator module 250 isconfigured to improve bandwidth utilization in a cellular wirelesscommunications network and to reduce access latency for the UEs to getrequest content over the network. In addition, the add-on accelerationmodule 250 at the client side (e.g., on the access device) may add valueto the terminal devices against competing products. Likewise, the add-onacceleration module 250 employed in equipment on the other side of theradio network (e.g., on the RNC 114) may add value to the equipmentsmarketed to service providers.

While one of accelerator modules 250 is illustrated in RNC 114 in FIG.1, in an embodiment the accelerator module may be found in SGSN/GGSN118, access network 112, core network 116, or in some othercommunications device or system disposed to the left of RAN as depictedFIG. 1. In addition, while one of accelerator modules 250 is illustratedin access device 106 in FIG. 1, in an embodiment the accelerator modulemay be found in the UE, the LAN, or in some other communications deviceor system disposed to the right of RAN as depicted FIG. 1. In anembodiment, the accelerator module 250 is implemented on the accessdevice 106 instead of on one of the UEs due to the UEs reliance onbatteries, which may be drained too quickly during heavy computationaltasks performed by the accelerator module 250.

Similar to the above, while one of accelerator modules 250 isillustrated in PDN gateway 218 in FIG. 2, in an embodiment theaccelerator module may be found in SAE gateway 214, router 222, or insome other communications device or system disposed to the left of RANas depicted FIG. 2. In addition, while one of accelerator modules 250 isillustrated in access device 206 in FIG. 2, in an embodiment theaccelerator module may be found in the UE, the LAN, or in some othercommunications device or system disposed to the right of RAN as depictedFIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a simplified schematic of a communicationsdevice 300 (e.g., RNC 114, access device 106, PDN Gateway 218, accessdevice 206, etc.) having one of the accelerator modules 250 is depicted.As shown in FIG. 3, communications device 300 generally includes areceive unit 302 used to receive incoming information, which isgenerally in the form of IP packets. Communications device 300 may alsoinclude a transmit unit 304 used to transmit outgoing information.Receive unit 302 and transmit unit 304 may be wireline and/or wirelessunits. In general, packets may arrive at communications device 300through receive unit 302 and may leave through transmit unit 304.

In an embodiment, communications device 300 also includes a control unit306. Control unit 306 is used to control the operation of communicationdevice 300. For example, depending on the type of communications device300 being considered, control unit 306 may be used to compute routesbased on a routing function, detect faults, serve as anchors for UEs,grant and schedule transmission opportunities to UEs served by controlunit 306, process attach requests, participate in handovers, and soforth. Control unit 306 may be implemented using a general purpose orspecial purpose processor or controller, combinatorial logic, statemachines, or a combination thereof.

Communications device 300 also includes a memory 308 used to storeconfiguration information, routing information, UE specific information,scratch memory, buffer space for transmissions, and so forth. Memory 308may be a combination of read-only memory, random access memory,programmable read-only memory, and so on.

In an embodiment, the accelerator module 250 of the communication device300 is operatively coupled to one or more of receive unit 302, transmitunit 304, control unit 306, and memory 308. As shown in FIG. 3,accelerator module 250 includes accelerator stack 350 that, whenimplemented, improves bandwidth utilization in a wireless communicationssystem (e.g., UMTS or LTE network). Accelerator stack 350 may behardware, firmware, software, or some combination thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a simplified schematic of accelerator stack 350is illustrated. As will be more fully explained below, accelerator stack350 is employed to facilitate data or content transfer between RNC 114and access device 106 in wireless system 100 of FIG. 1 and between PDNgateway 218 and access device 206 in wireless system 200 of FIG. 2. Inan embodiment, the stack that access device 106 of FIG. 1 and accessdevice 206 of FIG. 2 have facing UE 102 and UE 202, respectively, is astack other than stack 350.

Accelerator stack 350 is generally implemented from bottom 352 to top354 when packets are received by (i.e., on the way in to) a device andimplemented from the top 354 to the bottom 352 when packets are beingtransmitted (i.e., on the way out) of a device. In an embodiment,accelerator stack 350 is generally configured for and compatible withwireless communications.

As shown in FIG. 4, accelerator stack 350 includes a contentde-duplication (DEDUPE) layer 400. In an embodiment, DEDUPE layer 400operates to identify content that is already stored in the cache of adevice and, instead of re-transmitting the content through the network,simply transmits a pointer to the previously-stored content. In usingthe pointer, which is much smaller in size relative to the content,bandwidth can be preserved for other communications. By way of example,UE 102 of FIG. 1 may submit a request for content to access device 106.Access device 106 then passes that request on to NB 110 through the RAN.In turn, NB 110 transmits the request through access network 112 to RNC114. The RNC 114 forwards the UE request to the content provider. Thecontent provider sends requested content to RNC 114. When the requestedcontent is received by RNC 114, accelerator 250 compares the contentwith content in its cache and decides that the same content is cached ataccess device 106. Therefore, instead of retransmitting this contentover the network, accelerator 250 on RNC 114 sends a reference pointerto this content in the cache on access device 106. The pointeridentifies the location in, for example, memory 308 of access device 106(or perhaps another device on the right side of RAN in FIG. 1) where thecontent has been stored. Indeed, the same content is cached at both theRNC 114 and access device 106.

Accelerator stack also includes a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)inspection layer 402. HTTP layer 402 performs numerous operations toreduce the number of protocol handshaking messages going through theradio access network (RAN) and therefore reduces the latency for the UEto receive the requested content. In an embodiment HTTP layer 402performs meta data caching to cache data such as, for example, e-tag,expiration time, “last modification” time, and maximum age. In anembodiment, HTTP layer 402 may also perform 301 redirect caching tocache the permanent redirect responses from servers and authenticationcaching to cache 401 unauthorized responses from servers. In anembodiment, HTTP layer 402 in the accelerator 250 of access device 106may also perform object caching to cache objects requested by the firstclient requesting those objects and object pre-fetching to cache webresources before they are requested by the real client. In anembodiment, HTTP layer 402 may also perform connection pooling tomaintain persistent TCP connections through the RAN. In an embodiment,HTTP layer 402 may also provide hints to DEDUPE layer 400 on contentlength and header length in order to improve de-duplication results.

In an embodiment, accelerator stack 350 also includes a transmissioncontrol protocol (TCP) layer 404. TCP layer 404 controls the amount ofdata to be transferred and manages data retransmit in event of packetloss. TCP layer 404 operates to adjust data transfer window betweenaccelerator module 250 on RNC 114 of FIG. 1 and accelerator 250 onaccess device 106 based on acknowledgement streams (or other parameters)received from access device 106. The acknowledgement streams, or ACKstreams, may provide an indication of network condition web run time(WRT). For example, the network congestion may be determined through thetime it takes ACK packets to arrive and/or the absence of some ACKpackets.

In an embodiment, accelerator stack 350 also includes an internetprotocol (IP) layer 406, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunnelingprotocol (GTP) layer 408, a user data protocol (UDP) layer 410, anadditional IP layer 412, and lower level layers L2 414 and L1 416.

IP layer 406 provides and/or handles actual UE and server addresseswhile GTP layer provides IP-based communications protocols used to carryGPRS within UMTS and LTE networks. UDP layer 410 provides protocols foruser data and the additional IP layer 412 provides tunneling protocols.Finally, the lower level layers L2 414 and L1 416 provide a data link tohandle the specifics of RAN and a physical link, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a method 500 of transmitting data isillustrated. In block 502, packets are received after layers 406-416 ofthe stack 350 have been implemented in the accelerator module 250. Inblock 504, a request for content is from a peering device is extractedusing layer 402 of the implemented stack 350. In block 506, the requestfor content is passed to a content provider following the regularnetwork stack. In block 508, acknowledgement (ACK) streams are sent backto the UE after layers 406-416 of the stack 350 have been implemented.

In block 510, content is received from the content provider in the formof IP packets. In block 512, the HTTP is inspected and relevantinformation, which may be used by DEDUPE layer 400 (i.e., a de-dupeengine) to improve its performance, is saved. In block 514, the stack350 in accelerator module 250 on one side of a RAN is implemented inorder to compress (i.e., reduce the content size) of the content fortransmission over the RAN. In particular, the stack in the acceleratormodule is implemented to reduce content size through LZ-type compressionand data de-dupe technologies. In other embodiments, other types ofcompression technologies may be used to reduce content size. Forexample, the compression methods described in “System and Method forContent and Application Acceleration in a Wireless CommunicationsSystem,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/400,527, which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference, may be employed. Inblock 516, the packets are formed for a cooperating accelerator module250 disposed on another side of the RAN. In particular, packets areformed for a peering accelerator module following TCP windowingmechanisms optimized for RAN. In block 518, the packets are transmittedto the peering device following implementation of layers 406-416 of thestack 350. The cooperating accelerator module includes a correspondingstack that, when implemented, is configured to reconstruct the originalcontents (e.g., decompress the packets) in order to improve bandwidthutilization in a wireless communications system.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a method 600 of receiving data is illustrated.In block 602, packets carrying a UE request are received following aregular network stack. In block 604, a request from the UE is extractedusing layer 402 of the stack 350 implanted in the access device 206. Inblock 606, acknowledgement (ACK) streams are sent back to the UE uponrequest. In block 608, a client is requested to modify requests, serverequested content for a local cache, or pass the request to a peeringdevice.

In block 610, content that has been transmitted from one side of a radioaccess network are received. In particular, content is received in theform of pointers, compressed information, and/or fragments of originalcontents. The packets have been compressed (i.e., the content has beenreduced) using a stack in accelerator module 250. In block 612, acorresponding stack in a cooperating acceleration module 205 disposed onanother side of the RAN is implemented. The stack reconstructs theoriginal content (e.g., decompresses the packets) in order to improvebandwidth utilization in a wireless communications system. In block 614,TCP packets are formed for another communication device (e.g., UE 205 inFIG. 2). Thereafter, in block 616 the packets are transmitted to anothercommunication device following the regular network stack.

Referring now to FIG. 7, an illustration 700 of an embodiment ofinformation flow through a cellular wireless network when communicationsdevices employ the accelerator modules described herein. As shown, theAccess Device (e.g., a MiFi access device) having an accelerator module(Accelerator 2) receives a request from UE 1. The Access Device mayrespond to the request and receive a modified request. The request ormodified request is passed to the RNC having an accelerator module(Accelerator 1), to the GGSN, and to the Content Provider/Data Center.The Content Provider/Data Center responds with original content, whichis passed back to the RNC. The RNC reduces (e.g., compresses) theoriginal content and passes that reduced content to the Access Device.In an embodiment, the reduction of the original content is a losslesscontent reduction. The Access Device reconstructs the original contentfor UE 1. Upon request of UE 2, any cached content is transmitted to theUE 2 by the Access Device.

Although embodiments described hereinabove operate within thespecifications of a cellular communication network such as a 3GPP-LTEcellular network, other wireless communication arrangements arecontemplated within the broad scope of an embodiment, including WiMAX,GSM, Wi-Fi, and other wireless communication systems.

It is noted that, unless indicated otherwise, functions described hereincan be performed in either hardware or software, or some combinationthereof, with or without human intervention. In an embodiment, thefunctions are performed by a processor such as a computer or anelectronic data processor in accordance with code such as computerprogram code, software, and/or integrated circuits that are coded toperform such functions, unless indicated otherwise.

While the disclosure has been made with reference to illustrativeembodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments, will be apparentto persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It istherefore intended that the appended claims encompass any suchmodifications or embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for transmitting data, comprising:receiving packets from a content provider; sequentially implementing afirst stack in a first order in a first accelerator module on a packetdata network (PDN) gateway, a radio network controller (RNC), a servicearchitecture evolution (SAE) gateway, a general packet radio service(GPRS) support node (GSN), an Internet Protocol/Asynchronous TransferMode (IP/ATM) core network, an IP/ATM access network, or a router, onone side of a radio access network, wherein the first stack isconfigured to reduce a size of original content carried in the packets,and wherein the first stack is implemented by initiating a contentde-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression/decompression and cachinglayer, or by initiating a hypertext transfer protocol layer, or byinitiating a transmission control protocol layer; and transmitting thepackets over the radio access network such that the packets, whenreceived on another side of the radio access network by an access deviceincluding a cooperating accelerator module having a corresponding stackconfigured to be implemented in a second order opposite of the firstorder, are used to reconstruct the original content.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising implementing the first stack in the firstaccelerator module by initiating the content de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv(LZ) compression/decompression, and caching layer.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising implementing the first stack in the firstaccelerator module by initiating the hypertext transfer protocol layer.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising implementing the firststack in the first accelerator module by initiating the transmissioncontrol protocol layer.
 5. A method for receiving data, comprising:receiving packets transmitted from one side of a radio access network,the packets having been compressed using a first stack sequentiallyimplemented in a first order in a first accelerator module on a packetdata network (PDN) gateway, a radio network controller (RNC), a servicearchitecture evolution (SAE) gateway, a general packet radio service(GPRS) support node (GSN), an Internet Protocol/Asynchronous TransferMode (IP/ATM) core network, an IP/ATM access network, or a router;sequentially implementing a corresponding stack in a second orderopposite the first order in a cooperating acceleration module disposedin an access device on another side of the radio access network, thecorresponding stack decompressing the packets, wherein the correspondingstack is implemented by initiating a content de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv(LZ) compression/decompression and caching layer, or by initiating ahypertext transfer protocol layer, or by initiating a transmissioncontrol protocol layer; and transmitting the packets to anothercommunications device.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprisingimplementing the corresponding stack in the cooperating acceleratormodule by initiating the content de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ)compression/decompression, and caching layer.
 7. The method of claim 5,further comprising implementing the corresponding stack in thecooperating accelerator module by initiating the hypertext transferprotocol layer.
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprisingimplementing the corresponding stack in the cooperating acceleratormodule by initiating the transmission control protocol layer with acongestion control mechanism optimized for the radio access network. 9.A communications device, comprising: a receiver configured to receivepackets from a content provider disposed on one side of a radio accessnetwork; a first accelerator module configured to sequentially implementa first stack in a first order to reduce a size of original contentcarried in the packets, wherein the stack of the accelerator moduleincludes at least one of a content de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ)compression/decompression and caching layer, a hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP) layer, and a transmission control protocol (TCP) layer;and a transmitter configured to transmit the packets to an access deviceon another side of the radio access network where the packets, whenreceived, are used to reconstruct the original content using acooperating accelerator module with a corresponding stack configured tobe implemented in a second order opposite of the first order, whereinthe receiver, the first accelerator module, and the transmitter aredisposed in a packet data network (PDN) gateway, a radio networkcontroller (RNC), a service architecture evolution (SAE) gateway, ageneral packet radio service (GPRS) support node (GSN), an InternetProtocol/Asynchronous Transfer Mode (IP/ATM) core network, an IP/ATMaccess network, or a router.
 10. The communications device of claim 9,wherein the receiver, the first accelerator module, and the transmitterare disposed in the radio network controller.
 11. The communicationsdevice of claim 9, wherein the receiver, the first accelerator module,and the transmitter are disposed in the general packet radio service(GPRS) support node (GSN).
 12. The communications device of claim 9,wherein the receiver, the first accelerator module, and the transmitterare disposed in the service architecture evolution (SAE) gateway. 13.The communications device of claim 9, wherein the receiver, the firstaccelerator module, and the transmitter are disposed in the packet datanetwork (PDN) gateway.
 14. The communications device of claim 9, whereinthe stack of the first accelerator module includes the contentde-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression/decompression and cachinglayer.
 15. A communications device, comprising: a receiver configured toreceive packets from a network device on one side of a radio accessnetwork, the packets carrying reduced size content generated bysequentially implementing a first stack of a first accelerator module ina first order; a cooperating accelerator module disposed in an accessdevice and configured to sequentially implement a corresponding stack ina second order opposite of the first order to reconstruct originalcontent from the reduced sized content upon receipt of the packets,wherein the corresponding stack is implemented by initiating a contentde-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) compression/decompression and cachinglayer, or by initiating a hypertext transfer protocol layer, or byinitiating a transmission control protocol layer; and a transmitterconfigured to transmit the original content to an access device onanother side of the radio access network, wherein the receiver, thecooperating accelerator module, and the transmitter are disposed in apacket data network (PDN) gateway, a radio network controller (RNC), aservice architecture evolution (SAE) gateway, a general packet radioservice (GPRS) support node (GSN), an Internet Protocol/AsynchronousTransfer Mode (IP/ATM) core network, an IP/ATM access network, or arouter.
 16. The communications device of claim 15, wherein thecooperating accelerator module is configured to serve the originalcontent directly, to serve the original content from a cache, and toinstruct a content requestor to reformat a content request.
 17. Thecommunications device of claim 15, wherein the communication device isconnected to the radio network controller (RNC) on the one side of theradio access network and to the access device on the another side of theradio access network.
 18. The communications device of claim 15, whereinthe receiver, cooperating accelerator module, and the transmitter aredisposed in a local area network (LAN).
 19. The communications device ofclaim 15, wherein the de-duplication is configured to identify thepackets that are already stored in a cache of a requesting device. 20.The communications device of claim 15, wherein the cooperatingaccelerator module includes the content de-duplication, Lempel-Ziv (LZ)compression/decompression, and caching layer.